Connector connecting /disconnecting tool

ABSTRACT

Even when many connectors are provided, all the connectors are easily and surely mated and demated at the same time. There is provided a jig for mating and demating a plurality of connectors mounted on a socket board  10  with and from a plurality of connectors mounted on a motherboard  20  corresponding thereto, and has: an adapter  30  that is arranged opposite to a surface on which semiconductor components are placed and which is different from the surface of the socket board on which the connectors are arranged and is moved forward and backward in a direction in which the connectors are mated and demated; pressing means  40  that is mounted in a protruding manner on the adapter  30  and abuts against the surface of the socket board  10  on which the semiconductor components are placed to press the socket board  10  to the motherboard  20  by lowering the adapter  30 ; and pulling means  50  each of which is mounted in a protruding manner on the adapter  30  and engages with an engaging hole  16  formed in the socket board  10  and pulls the socket board  10  in the direction in which the socket board  10  is separated from the motherboard  20  by lifting the adapter  30.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a jig for mating and demating aplurality of connectors mounted on the same surface of a substrate withand from a plurality of connectors mounted on a mate correspondingthereto. In particular, the present invention relates to a jig formating and demating connectors that is provided with an adapter abuttingagainst and engaging with a substrate provided with connectors, and bymoving forward and backward this adapter along a direction in which theconnectors are mated and demated, moves the substrate forward andbackward in a direction in which the connectors are mated and dematedthereby to mate and demate connectors with and from the connectors ofthe mate opposed thereto, and also in a case where many connectors areprovided, can easily and surely mate and demate all the connectors atthe same time and hence is suitable for mating and demating theconnectors of a socket board or a self-diagnostic board removablymounted on the motherboard of a test apparatus of a semiconductorcomponent.

BACKGROUND ART

In general, in a semiconductor testing apparatus for conducting a teston a semiconductor component, by placing a semiconductor component to betested on a substrate called a socket board and connecting the socketboard to a substrate called a motherboard on a test apparatus main bodyside, a predetermined electric signal necessary for conducting a test isinputted to or outputted from the socket board via the motherboard toconduct a test on the semiconductor component.

Here, in a conventional semiconductor testing apparatus in prior art, inorder to give priority to electric performance, the socket board onwhich a semiconductor component is placed is electrically connected tothe motherboard on a test apparatus main body side by wiring, solderingor the like, so that the socket board is integrally connected to themotherboard and hence can not be disconnected from the motherboard. Theconventional semiconductor testing apparatus having such a structurethat the socket board is integrally connected to and can not bedisconnected from the motherboard presents a problem that since thesocket board can not be singly disconnected or replaced, it is difficultto respond to tests on various kinds of semiconductor componentsundergoing major diversification.

In recent years, along with increasing complexity in the semiconductorcomponents and progress in high package density, many semiconductorcomponents having different package structures and pin structures havebeen developed and provided and hence in order to make tests on thesemiconductor components having various different structures, it isnecessary to change the socket board which is an interface of thesemiconductor component to the socket board corresponding to the pinstructures and package structures of the respective semiconductorcomponents. However, in the conventional semiconductor testingapparatus, as described above, the socket board is integrally connectedto the motherboard of the apparatus main body side by soldering or thelike with and can not be disconnected from it, so that it is impossibleto connect and disconnect or replace only the socket board. Thus, whentests are made on different kinds of semiconductors, it is necessary toreplace the whole test apparatus including the motherboard.

The conventional semiconductor that requires replacing the whole testapparatus, as described above, not only takes much time for making andintroducing new motherboards and elongates a test period, but alsoincurs increasing test cost and a waste of resources because it needs tointroduce and replace expensive motherboards for the respectivesemiconductor components.

Thus, after an earnest research, the present applicant invented asemiconductor testing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent ApplicationNo. 2002-047186 in which by adopting connectors removably mated witheach other as a connection structure of the socket board and themotherboard in the semiconductor testing apparatus, the socket board canbe freely mated with and demated from the motherboard and can bereplaced.

FIG. 9 are an illustration conceptually showing a semiconductor testingapparatus proposed by the present applicant and disclosed in JapanesePatent Application No. 2002-047186, and FIG. 9(a) is a front view of theapparatus in a state where the socket board is removed from themotherboard and FIG. 9(b) is a bottom view of the socket board shown inFIG. 9(a).

As shown in these drawings, in this semiconductor testing apparatus, amotherboard 120 and a socket board 110 can be freely mated with anddemated from each other. As for the socket board 110, a plurality ofsocket boards 110 are aligned on a plate to be a base and, as shown inFIG. 9(b), the socket board 110 has connectors 114 a, 114 b, 114 c, 114d, . . . 114 n mated with a connector (not shown) on the motherboard 120side opposed thereto.

According to the semiconductor testing apparatus like this, the socketboard 110 is removably connected to the motherboard 120 via theconnectors 114 a to 114 n. Thus, for example, in a case where tests aremade on semiconductor components that are different from each other in apackage structure and a pin structure, it is possible to remove thesocket board 110 from the motherboard 120 (refer to FIG. 9(a)) and tochange only the socket board to a socket board corresponding to eachsemiconductor component.

Thus, in this semiconductor testing apparatus, it is possible to respondto tests on different kinds of semiconductor components only by singlychanging only the socket board and hence to eliminate need for changingthe whole apparatus including the motherboard as with the conventionalapparatus. Therefore, a semiconductor testing apparatus havingversatility could be realized at low cost.

By the way, as for the socket board mounted in the semiconductor testingapparatus, usually, a plurality of socket boards are aligned on themotherboard so as to conduct a test on many semiconductor components atthe same time. Then, in the semiconductor testing apparatus of a boardmating and demating type in accordance with the foregoing invention ofthe present applicant, a predetermined number of socket boards andconnectors aligned on a frame are unified (refer to FIG. 9(b)) and thesocket boards can be mated with and demated from the motherboard by asubstrate unified in this manner (refer to FIG. 9(a)). Thus, all theconnectors of the plurality of socket boards unified can be mated withand demated from the connectors of the motherboard corresponding theretoat the same time.

Here, usually, in a case where one connector is connected to anotherconnector, it can be easily connected even manually, but in a case wheremany connectors are arranged on the same plane and are connected at thesame time to a plurality of connectors of the mate correspondingthereto, all the connectors to be connected need to be moved to the matealong the direction in which they are mated and the plurality ofconnectors need to be mated with and demated from the connectors at thesame time, so that as the connectors to be connected increase in number,an operation of mating and demating the connectors only by hand becomesdifficult.

For this reason, also in the semiconductor testing apparatus shown inFIG. 9, the plurality of connectors are aligned on the same plane incorrespondence to the plurality of socket boards. Thus, the operation ofmating and demating the connectors only by hand becomes difficult andhence it is desired that some means for mating and demating connectorsis developed. Therefore, as a result of further earnest researchthereafter, the present applicant has reached an idea that in a casewhere a plurality of connectors are aligned on the same substrate, bydeveloping a jig capable of moving back and forth the substrate along adirection in which the connectors are mated and demated, a load on theoperation of mating and demating the connectors by hand can be reducedand eliminated.

The invention has been proposed to solve the above problems. It is theobject of the present invention to provide a jig for mating and dematingconnectors that is provided with an adapter abutting against andengaging with a substrate provided with connectors, and by movingforward and backward this adapter along a direction in which theconnectors are mated and demated, moves the substrate forward andbackward in a direction in which the connectors are mated and dematedthereby to mate and demate connectors with and from the connectors ofthe mate opposed thereto, and also in a case where many connectors areprovided, can easily and surely mate and demate all the connectors atthe same time and, in particular, is suitable for mating and dematingthe connectors of a socket board or a self-diagnostic board removablymounted on the motherboard of a test apparatus of a semiconductorcomponent.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In order to achieve the above object, a jig for mating and dematingconnectors of the present invention, according to claim 1, is a jig formating and demating a plurality of connectors mounted on the samesurface of a substrate with and from a plurality of connectors mountedon a mate corresponding thereto, and is so constructed as to include anadapter that is arranged opposite to a surface different from thesurface of the substrate on which the connectors are arranged and ismoved forward and backward in a direction in which the connectors aremated and demated, and pulling means that is mounted in a protrudingmanner on the adapter or the substrate and engages with an engaging holeformed in the substrate or the adapter and by moving the adapterbackward, pulls the substrate in a direction in which the substrate isseparated from the mate.

Further, according to claim 2, the jig for mating and dematingconnectors of the present invention further is so constructed as toinclude pressing means that is mounted in a protruding manner on theforegoing adapter (or the substrate) and abuts against a surfacedifferent from a surface of the foregoing substrate (or the adapter) onwhich the connectors are arranged and by moving the foregoing adapterforward, presses the substrate to the foregoing mate.

According to the jig for mating and demating connectors of the presentinvention constructed in this manner, by moving the adapter having thepressing means abutting against the surface of the substrate providedwith the plurality of connectors and the pulling means engaging with theengaging hole formed in the substrate backward along the direction inwhich the connectors are mated with respect to the substrate by the useof the lifting and lowering unit, the substrate can be moved forwardwith respect to the mate. This mates and demates the connectors placedon the substrate with and from the connectors of the mate along with theforward or backward movement of the adapter and hence in a case wherethe plurality of connectors are provided, all the connectors can bemated or demated by one operation.

Thus, according to the present invention, only by using the adapterhaving a simple construction, it is possible to easily and surely mateor demate all the connectors of the substrate with and from the all theconnectors of the mate thereof. For example, as is the case with asemiconductor testing apparatus provided with a plurality of socketboards connected to the motherboard via the connectors, it is possibleto automate an operation of mating and demating a plurality ofconnectors of a substrate with and from those of the mate thereof by theuse of the jig in accordance with the present invention and hence toreduce a load on the operation of mating or demating the connectors byhand without the use of a complex apparatus at low cost.

Further, the jig for mating and demating connectors, according to claim3, is constructed in such a manner that the foregoing pressing meansresiliently abuts against the foregoing substrate.

According to the jig for mating and demating connectors of the presentinvention constructed in this manner, the pressing means for pressingthe substrate to the mate resiliently abuts against the substrate andhence can smoothly urge and press the substrate to the mate thereby tosmoothly mate the connectors. That is, according to the pressing meansthat resiliently abuts against the substrate, it is possible to absorbshock applied to the substrate, the substrate of the mate, and theapparatus by resilience and to surely mate the connectors. Also byautomatically mating and demating the connectors, it is possible torealize an operation of mating and demating the connectors with highreliability without breaking the substrate and the connectors.

Then, according to claim 4, the jig for mating and demating connectorsof the present invention is constructed in such a manner that theforegoing pulling means has a shaft portion mounted in a protrudingmanner slidably with respect to the foregoing adapter and an bulgingportion formed on a tip of the shaft portion and having a diameterlarger than the shaft portion, and that the engaging hole of theforegoing substrate has a passing hole through which the bulging portionof the foregoing pulling means can pass and a sliding hole which iscontinuous with the passing hole and allows the shaft portion of theforegoing pulling means pass through and does not allow the foregoingbulging portion to pass through, and that the bulging portion of theforegoing adapter passing through the passing hole of the foregoingengaging hole is moved to the foregoing sliding hole by sliding theforegoing shaft portion thereby to engage with the sliding hole suchthat it can not drop.

According to the jig for mating and demating connectors of the presentinvention constructed in this manner, it is possible to realize thepulling means for demating the mated connectors by a simple constructionincluding the shaft portion and the bulging portion formed at the tip ofthe shaft portion and only by inserting the pulling means into theengaging hole of the substrate and sliding it, to engage the substratewith the adapter such that it can not drop and to pull the substratefrom the mate. This makes it possible to provide the jig for mating anddemating connectors that can demate the mated connectors only by the useof an extremely simple construction of the pulling means and theengaging hole, and can automate or facilitate the operation of matingand demating the connectors without a complex and large-sized apparatus,and is manufactured at low cost, and has a high degree of reliability.

In particular, the jig for mating and demating connectors according toclaim 5 is constructed in such a manner that the foregoing adapter has abase portion fixed to the foregoing substrate and a sliding portionslidable with respect to the base portion, and that the shaft portion ofthe foregoing pulling means is mounted in a protruding manner on thesliding portion of the foregoing adapter.

According to the jig for mating and demating connectors of the presentinvention constructed in this manner, since the pulling means engagingwith the engaging hole of the substrate is mounted on the slidingportion of the adapter, by positioning and fixing the base portion ofthe adapter to the substrate and then sliding the sliding portion, it ispossible to slide the pulling means in the engaging hole and to easilyand surely engage the bulging portion with the engaging hole. This makesit possible to easily and surely slide the pulling means and inparticular, also in a case where there are provided a plurality ofpulling means, to slide all the pulling means and to engage them withthe engaging holes by one operation of sliding the sliding portion,which results in mating and demating the connectors by the use of thejig in accordance with the present invention with a higher degree ofefficiency.

Further, the jig for mating and demating connectors, according to claim6, is constructed in such a manner that the foregoing adapter has afixing means for fixing the foregoing sliding portion to the foregoingbase portion such that the sliding portion can not slide with respect tothe base portion.

According the jig for mating and demating connectors of the presentinvention constructed in this manner, it is possible to fix the slidingportion mounted on the base portion in such a way as to freely slidewith respect to the base portion in such a manner that it can not slide,for example, by the use of fixing means such as a latch. Thus, byengaging the bulging portion of the pulling means with the substrate andthen fixing the sliding portion to the base portion such that it can notslide, it is possible to prevent the bulging portion from dropping fromthe substrate and shifting in position involuntarily and hence to mateand demate the connectors with a higher degree of reliability.

Still further, the jig for mating and demating connectors, according toclaim 7, is constructed in such a manner that the bulging portion of theforegoing pulling means is formed in a substantially spherical shape.

According to the jig for mating and demating connectors of the presentinvention constructed in this manner, since the bulging portion of thepulling means engaging with the engaging hole in such a way as to freelyengage with and disengage from the engaging hole is so constructed as tobe substantially spherical, it is possible to further smoothly engageand disengage the bulging portion with and from the engaging hole. Thatis, even if the shaft of the pulling means is mounted in any way, it ispossible to surely engage the spherical bulging portion with the edge ofthe engaging hole and to absorb a shift in position in the engaginghole. This makes it possible to easily assemble the adapter and tosurely pull the substrate, which can provide a jig of high reliabilityat low cost.

Then, according to claim 8, the jig for mating and demating connectorsof the present invention is constructed in such a manner that theforegoing substrate is a socket board which a semiconductor component tobe tested is placed on and connected to, and that the foregoing mate isa motherboard of a semiconductor testing apparatus that receives andapplies a predetermined electric signal from and to the socket board.

According to the jig for mating and demating connectors of the presentinvention constructed in this manner, since the substrate and its mateof which the connectors are mated and demated by the use of the adapterare the socket board and the motherboard of the semiconductor testingapparatus, it is possible to apply the jig of the present invention tothe semiconductor testing apparatus of a socket board mating anddemating type. Thus, in the semiconductor testing apparatus capable ofresponding to a test on various kinds of semiconductor components bysingly changing only the socket board, it is possible to automate theoperation of mating and demating the socket board with and from themotherboard by the use of the jig of the present invention and to reducea load on the operation of mating and demating the connectors by handand to conduct the test on the semiconductor components with a highdegree of efficiency.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing the whole of a semiconductortesting apparatus to which a jig for mating and demating connectors inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention is applied;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view in perspective showing a socket board and amotherboard mounted on the semiconductor testing apparatus to which thejig for mating and demating connectors in accordance with one embodimentof the present invention is applied;

FIG. 3 show a socket board mounted on the semiconductor testingapparatus to which the jig for mating and demating connectors inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention is applied, andFIG. 3(a) is a partial plan view and FIG. 3(b) is a cross-sectional viewtaken on a line A-A in FIG. 3(a);

FIG. 4 are an illustration showing an adapter of the jig for mating anddemating connectors in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention, and FIG. 4(a) is a plan view, and FIG. 4(b) is across-sectional view taken on a line B-B in FIG. 4(a), and FIG. 4(c) isa cross-sectional view taken on a line C-C in FIG. 4(a);

FIG. 5 is a schematic front view showing an operation of mating anddemating a socket board with and from a motherboard in the semiconductortesting apparatus using the jig for mating and demating connectors inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention and shows astate where the socket board is not mounted with an adapter;

FIG. 6 show an operation of mating and demating the socket board withand from the motherboard in the semiconductor testing apparatus usingthe jig for mating and demating connectors in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention and FIG. 6(a) is a schematic frontview showing a state where the socket board is mounted with the adapterand FIG. 6(b) is a partial cross-sectional side view, on an enlargedscale, showing the same state;

FIG. 7 are a cross-sectional view, on an enlarged scale, of the mainportion of pulling means and engaging holes, which shows variations inthe operation of mating and demating the socket board with and from themotherboard of the semiconductor testing apparatus using the jig formating and demating connectors in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic front view showing the operation of mating anddemating the socket board with and from the motherboard of thesemiconductor testing apparatus using the jig for mating and dematingconnectors in accordance with one embodiment of the present inventionand shows a state where the socket board is demated from themotherboard; and

FIG. 9 are an illustration for conceptually describing a semiconductortesting apparatus proposed by the present applicant in Japanese PatentApplication No. 2002-047186, and FIG. 9(a) is a front view showing astate where the socket board is demated from the motherboard, and FIG.9(b) is a bottom view of the socket board shown in FIG. 9(a).

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereafter, the preferred embodiment of a jig for mating and dematingconnectors in accordance with the present invention will be describedwith reference to FIGS. 1 to 8.

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing the whole of a semiconductortesting apparatus to which the jig for mating and demating connectors inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention is applied. Asshown in the figure, the jig for mating and demating connectors inaccordance with the present embodiment is a jig for mating and dematinga plurality of connectors placed on the same plane of a substrate withand from a plurality of connectors on the mate corresponding theretoand, to be more specific, has a socket board 10 and a motherboard 20with which the socket board 10 is mated in the semiconductor testingapparatus. Then, an adapter 30 and an adapter lifting and lowering unit100 are mounted as a jig for mating and demating a plurality ofconnectors 14, 21 (refer to FIG. 2) for electrically connecting thesocket board 10 to the motherboard 20.

[Socket Board and Motherboard]

First, the socket board 10 and the motherboard 20 mounted on thesemiconductor testing apparatus in accordance with the presentembodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 2 isan exploded view in perspective showing the socket board 10 and themotherboard 20 mounted on the semiconductor testing apparatus to whichthe jig for mating and demating connectors in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 show the socket board 10 inaccordance with the present embodiment and FIG. 3(a) is a partial planview and FIG. 3(b) is a cross-sectional view taken on a line A-A in FIG.3(a).

As shown in these figures, the semiconductor testing apparatus inaccordance with the present embodiment, as with the semiconductortesting apparatus shown in FIG. 9, are a test apparatus that is soconstructed as to be able to freely mate and demate the socket board 10on which semiconductor components (not shown) to be tested are mountedwith and from the motherboard 20 and by singly changing only the socketboard 10, can respond to a test on different kinds of semiconductorcomponents.

In the socket board 10, as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of socket boards11 a, 11 b, 11 c, 11 d, . . . , and 11 n are integrally unified. To bemore specific, in the unified socket board 10, the plurality of socketboards from 11 a to 11 n are aligned in a row on a socket board frame(SB frame) 12, which is to be a base plate, and connectors 14 a, 14 b,14 c, 14 d, . . . , 14 n to be connected to the socket boards from 11 ato 11 n are arranged in spaces 13 (13 a, 13 b, . . . , 13 n) of the SBframe 12.

Each of the respective socket boards from 11 a to 11 n is a substratehaving a part mounting and connecting portion (socket portion) on whicha semiconductor component to be tested is mounted and which electricallyconnects the semiconductor component and one semiconductor component ismounted on each of the socket boards from 11 a to 11 n. Then, thisplurality of socket boards from 11 a to 11 n are mounted on and fixed tothe respective frame portions of the SB frame 12.

The SB frame 12 is a frame member made of metal or the like and has theplurality of spaces from 13 a to 13 n, and in the present embodiment, asshown in FIG. 2, has 8 spaces per one row, that is, a total of 16 spaces13. In the respective spaces from 13 a to 13 n are mounted theconnectors from 14 a to 14 n connected to the socket boards from 11 a to11 n.

In this manner, the connectors from 14 a to 14 n are mounted in the SBframe 12 and the connectors from 14 a to 14 n are arranged on the bottomsurface sides of the respective socket boards from 11 a to 11 n and theconnectors from 14 a to 14 n are connected to the corresponding socketboards from 11 a to 11 n on the SB frame 12.

Then, the plurality of connectors from 14 a to 14 n are arranged in theSB frame 12 and hence are fixed on the same plane on the bottom surfacesides of the socket boards. Thus, all the connectors are mated with anddemated from corresponding connectors 21 a, 21 b, 21 c, 21 d, . . . ,and 21 n on the motherboard side (refer to FIG. 2).

Here, the socket board 10 in which the plurality of socket boards from11 a to 11 n and connectors from 14 a to 14 n are integrally unified bythe SB frame 12, as described above, is generally called “DSA (DeviceSpecific Adapter)” and is manufactured, mated and demated, or changed bythis DSA. Usually, in the semiconductor testing apparatus, the DSAs aremounted on one motherboard in groups of two or in groups of four. Sincethe socket board 10 is handled by the unified DSA in this manner, forexample, in a case where a test is made on the semiconductor componentshaving different package structures and pin structures, the socketboards 10 corresponding to the respective semiconductor components areprepared by the unified DSA and the socket board 10 corresponding to thesemiconductor component is mated and demated from the motherboard 20 andis changed.

Here, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the SB frame 12 has 2 rows offrames, each row having 8 frames, that is, a total of 16 frames, andeach of the 16 frames is provided with 2 socket boards 11 and 2connectors 14 corresponding thereto, and hence the socket board 10 isprovided with a total of 32 socket boards 11 and a total of 32connectors 14. It is not intended to specifically limit the number ofsocket boards 11 (and the number of connectors 14) and the number ofspaces of the SB frame 12 to these numbers.

Further, each of the socket boards from 11 a to 11 n mounted on the SBframe 12, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, is formed in such a shape that thesubstrate of each socket board is notched at four corners and the frameportion of the SB frame 12 is exposed from this notched portions. Then,in this exposed portion of the SB frame 12, as shown in FIG. 2, isformed a positioning hole 15 into which a positioning pin 22 mounted ina protruding manner on the motherboard 20 is inserted, and hence thesocket board 10 is positioned with respect to the motherboard 20 at apredetermined position and fixed there.

Here, while the positioning pins 22 (and positioning holes 15) areformed at two positions on the left and right in a direction of lengthof the SB frame 12 in this embodiment (refer to FIG. 2), as far as thesocket board 10 is positioned at the predetermined position, thepositioning pins 22 and the positioning holes 15 can be formed at anypositions and the number of them is not limited to a specific number.

Further, in this embodiment, in the exposed portion of the SB frame 12is formed an engaging hole 16 which an bulging portion 52 of pullingmeans 50 of an adapter 30, which will be described later, freely engageswith or disengages from. This engaging hole 16, as shown in FIG. 2, is ahole formed in a portion where the frame of the SB frame 12 is exposed,that is, in the notched portion of the socket board 11 and, as shown inFIG. 3, is formed substantially in a shape of a bottle gourd including alarge-diameter passing hole 16 a and a small-diameter sliding hole 16 bformed continuously to the passing hole 16 a. The large-diameter passinghole 16 a of the engaging hole 16 is a substantially perfect circularhole having a diameter large enough for the bulging portion 52 of thepulling means 50 of the adapter 30 to pass through. On the other hand,the small-diameter sliding hole 16 b is a substantially ellipsoidal holethat is formed continuously to the passing hole 16 a and has a diameterlarge enough for the shaft portion 51 of the pulling means 50 of theadapter 30 to pass through and too small for the bulging portion 52 f topass through.

Then, this engaging portion 16 is formed in the exposed portion of theSB frame 12, that is, in the frame portion exposed from the notchedportion of the socket board 11 and in this embodiment, as shown in FIG.2, four engaging portions 16 are formed at four positions at equalintervals in the direction of length of the SB frame 12.

By forming the plurality of engaging portions 16 at the plurality ofportions at equal intervals, as will be described later, a pulling forceis equally applied to the SB frame 12 by the pulling means 50 of theadapter 30 moved up and down by the adapter lifting and lowering unit100 thereby to integrally at the same time demate the plurality ofconnectors from 14 a to 14 n of the socket boards from 11 a to 11 n fromthe connectors from 21 a to 21 n of the motherboard 20. Here, while theengaging holes 16 are formed at four positions in this embodiment,needless to say, they are increased or decreased in number according tothe number of pulling means of the adapter 30 and the positions wherethey are formed.

Further, the exposed portions of the SB frame 12 are allotted also toportions pressed by the pressing means 40 of the adapter 30. Asdescribed above, notched portions are formed at four corners of each ofthe socket boards from 11 a to 11 n and the frame portions of the SBframe 12 are exposed from the notched portions. Thus, in thisembodiment, the pressing means 40 of the adapter 30 is made to abutagainst the exposed portions of the SB frame 12 and the SB frame 12 ispressed to urge and press the socket board 10 to the motherboard 20.

Here, of the exposed portions of the SB frame 12, portions where theforegoing positioning holes 15 and engaging holes 16 are not formed areallotted to the portions pressed by the pressing means 40 of the adapter30 (refer to FIGS. 2 and 3). To be specific, first, in correspondence tofixed pressing portions 41 which will be described later, other fourpositions in the exposed region formed along the direction of length ofcenter of the SB frame 12 where the positioning holes 15 and theengaging hole 16 are formed are allotted to portions to be pressed.Further, in correspondence to resilient pressing portions 42 which willbe described later, 4 positions for each side, that is, a total of 8positions in the exposed region along both the outside edges in thedirection of length of the SB frame 12 are also allotted to portions tobe pressed.

By forming the portions pressed by the pressing means 40 of the adapter30 on the SB frame 12 at the plurality of positions at predeterminedintervals, as will be described later, the pressing force applied by thepressing means 40 of the adapter 30 moved up and down by the adapterlifting and lowering unit 100 can be uniformly applied to the SB frame12, so that it is possible to integrally at the same time mate theconnectors from 14 a to 14 n of the plurality of socket boards from 11 ato 11 n to the connectors from 21 a to 21 n of the motherboard 20. Here,needless to say, also the portions pressed by the pressing means 40, asis the case with the foregoing engaging holes 16, can be increased ordecreased in the number according to the number of pressing means 40 ofthe adapter 30 and the positions where they are formed.

The motherboard 20, as shown in FIG. 1, is a substrate mounted on themain body side of the semiconductor testing apparatus and, as describedabove, is provided with the plurality of connectors from 21 a to 21 ncorresponding to the unified socket board 10 (refer to FIG. 2). Sincethe socket board 10 is connected to the motherboard 20 via connectors, apredetermined electric signal necessary for test is inputted to oroutputted from the socket board 10 via the motherboard 20 to make thetest on the semiconductor components on the respective socket boardsfrom 11 a to 11 n.

In this respect, a portion shown as the motherboard 20 in thisembodiment generally includes not only the motherboard mounted on a testhead of the semiconductor testing apparatus but also an SPC, a metalplate, a performance board and the like. Thus, the word of “themotherboard” used in this embodiment means a mating substrate or amating device which the unified socket board (DSA) 10 can be freelymated and demated from.

Further, although detailed description will be omitted, not only theforegoing socket board 10 and motherboard 20 but also the constructionand function of the semiconductor testing apparatus of this embodimentare the same as those of the existing semiconductor testing apparatus.

[Adapter]

Next, with reference to FIG. 4, the adapter 30 of the jig for mating anddemating connectors in accordance with this embodiment will bedescribed. FIG. 4 are illustrations showing the adapter 30 of the jigfor mating and demating connectors in accordance with this embodiment,FIG. 4(a) is a plan view, FIG. 4(b) is a cross-sectional view taken on aline B-B in FIG. 4(a), and similarly, FIG. 4(c) is a cross-sectionalview taken on a line C-C in FIG. 4(a).

The adapter 30 shown in these drawings is a plate-shaped member opposedto a surface different from a surface on which the connectors of thesocket board 10 are arranged, that is, a surface on which thesemiconductor components are mounted. (the upper surface of the socketboard in FIG. 1), and is provided by the DSA constructing the socketboard 10. Then, the adapter 30 is moved forward and backward (up anddown) by the adapter lifting and lowering unit 100 along the directionin which the connectors of the socket board 10 are mated and dematedfrom the motherboard 20 thereby to mate and demate the connectors of thesocket board 10 with and from the connectors of the motherboard 20.

The adapter 30 as shown in FIG. 4, has a base portion 31 and a slidingportion 32. The base portion 31 is formed of a plate member having anoutside shape substantially similar to outside shape of the socket board10 (refer to FIGS. 5 and 6) and Is arranged and fixed with apredetermined gap between itself and the surface of the socket board 10on which the semiconductor components are mounted. Then, the baseportion 31 is provided with the pressing means 40 for pressing thesocket board 10 (fixed pressing portion 41 and resilient pressingportion 42) (see from FIGS. 4 to 6).

The sliding portion 32 is a plate-shaped member that can freely slidewith respect to the base portion 31. In this embodiment., as shown inFIG. 4, the sliding portion 32 is arranged on the upper surface side ofthe base portion 31 and is formed in a shape of a thin plate coveringthe socket board 10 and is mounted in such a manner as to freely slidein the direction of length of the base portion 31. Then, the slidingportion 32 is provided with the pulling means 50 (see from FIGS. 4 to6).

The pressing means 40 is a shaft-shaped member mounted in a protrudingmanner on the base portion 31 of the adapter 30 and is protruded towardthe socket board 10. By moving forward (down) the adapter 30, thepressing means 40 is made to abut against a surface different from asurface on which the connectors of the SB frame 12 of the socket board10 are arranged, that is, a surface on which the semiconductorcomponents are mounted thereby to press the socket board 10 to themotherboard 20.

Then, the pressing means 40 in accordance with this embodiment has twokinds of pressing means of the fixed pressing portion 41 and theresilient pressing portion 42.

The fixed pressing portion 41, as shown in FIG. 4(c), is a pillar-shapedmember mounted on the bottom surface of the base portion 31 of theadapter 30 in such as manner as to protrude toward the substrate surfaceof the socket board 10 and is made to abut against the exposed portionof the SB frame 12 by lifting and lowering the adapter 30.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4(c), the fixed pressing portion 41has a pillar-shaped portion 41 a and a cylindrical portion 41 b. Thepillar-shaped portion 41 a is a pillar-shaped member mounted in aprotruding manner on the base portion 31 along the direction of lengthof center of the base portion 31 in such a way as to abut against theexposed portion in the direction of length of the center of the SB frame12 and there are provided four pillar-shaped portions 41 a (refer toFIGS. 5 and 6). On the other hand, the cylindrical portion 41 b is ahollow cylindrical member abutting against the periphery of thepositioning pin 22 (refer to FIG. 2) of the motherboard 20, whichprotrudes from the positioning hole 15 of the SB frame 12, and thecylindrical portions 41 b are mounted at two positions corresponding totwo positioning pins 22. By providing the cylindrical portions 41 b likethis, it is possible to press also portions near the peripheries of thepositioning holes 15 of the SB frame 12 and hence to urge and press theSB frame 12 further uniformly by the fixed pressing portion 41 withoutcausing interference with the projecting positioning pin 22.

Here, the length (protruding length) of the pressing means 40 (fixedpressing portion 41 and resilient pressing portion 42) can be set at asuitable length according to the size of the socket board 10 to be matedand demated by the use of the adapter 30, the mating forces of theconnectors, and the like. The fixed pressing portion 41 (pillar-shapedmember 41 a and cylindrical member 41 b) is made a little shorter thanthe pillar-shaped member 42 b of the resilient pressing means 42, whichwill be described later. In this manner, in a case where the adapter 30is moved forward (down) to the SB frame 12, the pillar-shaped member 42b of the resilient pressing portion 42 abuts against the SB frame 12earlier than the pillar-shaped member of the fixed pressing portion 41.

The resilient pressing portion 42, as shown in FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b), hasa plate-shaped portion 42 a extending from the base portion 31 of theadapter 30 in parallel to the substrate surface of the socket board 10and a pillar-shaped portion 42 b mounted on tip portion of the plateportion 42 a in a manner protruding toward the substrate surface of thesocket board 10.

The plate-shaped portion 42 a is made of a elastic metal plate or thelike and is fixed to the base portion 31 of the adapter 30 and extendsin a shape of a wing in the direction of width of the adapter 30 and thepillar-shaped portions 42 b are fixed to the respective tip portions ofthe plate-shaped portion 42 a. According to the resilient pressingportion 42 including the plate-shaped portion 42 a and the pillar-shapedportions 42 b, the plate-shaped portion 42 a is resiliently deflectedand the pillar-shaped portions 42 b press the SB frame 12 resilientlywhen the pillar-shaped portions 42 b abuts to the SB frame 12 of thesocket board 10.

Then, since the resilient pressing portion 42 resiliently presses andurges the SB frame 12, the socket board 10 is smoothly urged and pressedto the motherboard 20 thereby to mate the connectors further smoothlyand hence surely mate the connectors while absorbing shock applied tothe socket board 10 and the motherboard 20 by means of resilience.

Here, each of the pillar-shaped portions 42 b mounted in the protrudingmanner on the tip portions of the plate-shaped portion 42 a is a littlelonger than the pillar-member of the foregoing fixed pressing portion41. Then, in a case where the adapter 30 is moved down toward the SBframe 12, the pillar-shaped portions 42 b of the resilient pressingportion 42 abut against the SB frame 12 earlier than the pillar-memberof the fixed pressing portion 41, whereby the plate-shaped portion 42 ais deflected to make the pillar-shaped portions 42 b resiliently pressthe SB frame 12.

In this respect, in the resilient pressing portion 42 of thisembodiment, as shown in FIG. 4(a), four plate-shaped portions 42 aprotruding toward both ends of the base portion 31 in a shape of a wing42 a are mounted along the direction of length of the adapter 30 atequal intervals and the pillar-shaped portions42 b are mounted on boththe tip portions of the respective plate-shaped portions 42 a and hencea total of 8 pillar-shaped portions 42 b press the exposed portionsalong both outside edges in the direction of length of the SB frame 12.

As described above, in this embodiment, the plurality of pressing means40 each including the fixed pressing portion 41 and the resilientpressing portion 42 are formed to the adapter 30 at a plurality ofpositions at predetermined intervals. Thus, by moving down the adapter30 by the adapter lifting and lowering unit 100, it is possible to makethe plurality of pressing portions 41, 42 abut against the SB frame 12uniformly and hence to apply a pressing force to the whole of the socketboard 10. The pressing means 40 each including the fixed pressingportion 41 and the resilient pressing portion 42 can be suitablyincreased or decreased in number according to the size of connectormated by means of the adapter 30, the number of pins, the degree of easeof mating, and the like.

The pulling means 50 is shaft-shaped means mounted in a protrudingmanner on the sliding portion 32 of the adapter 30 and is engaged withthe engaging hole 16 formed in the SB frame 12 to pull the socket board10 in the direction separating from the motherboard when the adapter 30is moved backward. The pulling means 50 has the shaft portion 51 mountedin a protruding manner slidably with respect to the adapter 30 and thebulging portion 52 formed at the tip of the shaft portion 51 and havinga larger diameter than the shaft portion 51.

The shaft portion 51 is made of a shaft-shaped means having a smallerdiameter than the passing hole 16 a and the sliding hole 16 b of theengaging hole 16 of the SB frame 12 and has the bulging portion 52formed at the tip. Here, the shaft portion 51, as shown in FIG. 4(b), ismounted in a protruding manner and fixed to the sliding portion 32 ofthe adapter 30 and protrudes through the base portion 31 toward thesocket board 10. Then, in the base portion 31 through which the shaftportion 51 passes is formed a hole elongated along the direction inwhich the sliding portion 32 slides. In this manner, the shaft portion51 can slide with the sliding portion 32 in the direction of the lengthof the adapter 30 within a range of the elongated hole of the baseportion 31 it passes through. Since the shaft portion 51 of the pullingmeans 50 is fixed to the sliding portion 32, in this embodiment, also byproviding a plurality of pulling means 50, by sliding the slidingportion 32, it is possible to slide all the pulling means 50 by oneoperation and hence to easily and surely engaging the bulging portion 52with the engaging hole 16 of the SB frame 12.

Further, the length (protrusion height) of the shaft portion 51 is setin such a manner that the bulging portion 52 passes the passing hole 16a in a state where the foregoing pressing means 40 (fixed pressingportion 41 and resilient pressing portion 42) abut against the SB frame12 (refer to FIG. 6). The bulging portion 52 has an outside diameterletting an bulging portion formed at the tip of the shaft portion 51pass through the passing hole 16 a of the engaging hole 16 of the SBframe 12 and not letting it pass through the sliding hole 16 b. Here,when the pressing means 40 abuts against the SB frame 12, the bulgingportion 52 is set such that it passes through the passing hole 16 a ofthe engaging hole 16 and is positioned in the hole (refer to FIG. 6).Thus, when the adapter 30 is moved down toward the socket board 10, thebulging portion 52 that passes through the passing hole 16 a of theengaging hole 16 of the SB frame 12 and is positioned in the passinghole 16 a is moved to the sliding hole 16 b by sliding the shaft portion51, whereby the bulging portion 52 is engaged with the sliding hole 16 bin such a manner that it can not drop and hence the pulling means 50 isengaged with the SB frame 12 in such a way that it can not drop.Therefore, when the adapter 30 is moved backward (up) by the adapterlifting and lowering unit 100 in this state, the socket board 10 ispulled by the pulling means 50 in a direction in which it is separatedfrom the motherboard 20.

Here, the bulging portion 52 in accordance with this embodiment, asshown in FIGS. 4(b) and 4(c), is formed in a substantially sphericalouter shape. Since the bulging portion 52 is formed in a sphericalshape, even if the shaft of the pulling means 50 is fixed to the adapterside at any angle, the bulging portion 52 bulging in the spherical shapesurely engages with the edge portion of the sliding hole 16 b of theengaging hole 16 to eliminate the need for adjusting the direction inwhich the pulling means 50 is mounted on the adapter 30, which resultsin facilitating assembling the adapter 30 and mounting or dismountingthe adapter 30 on or from the socket board 10 and surely pulling thesocket board 10.

Then, the pulling means 50 each having the shaft portion 51 and thebulging portion 52 described above are formed on the sliding portion 31at four positions at equal intervals in the direction of length ofadapter 30. By forming the pulling means 50 at the plurality ofpositions at equal intervals in this manner, when the adapter 30 islifted and lowered by the adapter lifting and lowering unit 100, it ispossible to uniformly apply a pulling force to the SB frame 12 by thepulling means 50 and hence to demate and separate the connectors 14 ofthe socket board 11 mated with the connectors 21 of the motherboard 20integrally at the same time. Here, while the pulling means 50 are formedat four positions in the direction of length of the adapter 30 in thisembodiment, needless to say, the number of the pulling means 50 and thepositions where they are mounted can be increased or decreased andchanged according to the size, the number of pins, the connecting forceand the like of the connectors to be demated and separated.

Then, in this embodiment having the pulling means 50 on the slidingportion 32 of the adapter 30 in this manner, the adapter 30 is providedwith fixing means 60 for fixing the sliding portion 32 to the baseportion 31 such that it can not slide with respect to the base portion31. By providing the fixing means 60 for fixing the sliding portion 32to the base portion 31 such that it can not move with respect to thebase portion 31, after the bulging portion 52 of the pulling means 50 isslid and engaged with the SB frame 12 of the socket board 10, by fixingthe sliding portion 32 to the base portion 31, the pulling means 50 canbe fixed such that it can not slide. This can surely prevent the bulgingportion 52 from involuntarily dropping from the engaging hole 16 of theSB frame 12 and hence from being shifted in position.

Here, in the adapter 30 in this embodiment, a latch for fixing thesliding portion 32 to the base portion 31 is used as the fixing means60. The latch, as shown in FIG. 4(c), is a latch provided with a coilspring arranged on the upper surface side of the adapter 30 and fixed tothe sliding portion 32 and has a buckle structure in which one end sideof the latch is hooked and fixed on a hook 31 a fixed to the base 31.Since the latch is fixed in this manner, the sliding portion 32 ispulled to the hook side of the base portion 31 and fixed there by thepulling force of the coil spring of the latch. Then, the pulling means50 mounted on the sliding portion 32, as will be described later, isengaged and fixed in a state where the bulging portion 52 is urged tothe sliding hole 16 b of the engaging hole 16 of the SB frame 12 (referto FIG. 7). Here, the fixing means 60 for fixing the sliding portion 32to the base portion 31 in such a manner that it can not slide is notlimited to the latch described in this embodiment but other fixing meansand fixing structures can be used such as a stopper for regulating themovement of the sliding portion 32, screws or bolts for fixing, or thelike.

Further, the adapter 30 described above is mounted with cylinderinsertion portions 70 on the upper surface. The cylinder insertionportions 70, as shown in FIG. 1, are mounted at two positionscorresponding to the cylindrical portions 41 b on the upper surface ofthe adapter 30 and in this embodiment, each of them is formed in anannular shape (in a shape of a ring) into which the protrusion 101 a ofa horizontal cylinder 101 of the adapter lifting and lowering unit 100,which will be described later, can be freely inserted into or extractedfrom. Then, by inserting and fixing the protrusion 101 a of thehorizontal cylinder 101 into the cylinder insertion portion 70, theadapter 30 is held and fixed by the adapter lifting and lowering unit100 such that it can not drop and when a vertical cylinder 102 whichwill be described later is driven, is moved up and down in the verticaldirection.

Incidentally, the adapter 30 in accordance with this embodiment isprovided with not only the foregoing respective constituent portions butalso, as shown in FIG. 1, a pillar-shaped member protruding from belowthe fixing means 60 to the socket board 10. Although the pillar-shapedmember will not described in detail because it is not a main part of theadapter 30 in accordance with this embodiment, when the pillar-shapedmember is inserted into a hole made in the central portion of the SBframe 12 of the socket board 10, a latch structure of a metal plate onthe motherboard 20 side is pressed to fix the metal plate to the SBframe 12.

[Adapter Lifting and Lowering Unit]

Next, the outline of the adapter lifting and lowering unit 100 inaccordance with this embodiment will be described with reference toFIG. 1. The adapter lifting and lowering unit 100, as shown in FIG. 1,is a driving unit arranged above the adapter 30 and has a horizontalcylinder 101, a vertical cylinder 102, and a shock absorber 103.

The horizontal cylinder 101 is a cylinder for driving the protrusion 101a in a horizontal direction (in a left-right direction in the drawing)and the protrusion 101 a driven by the horizontal cylinder 101 is freelyinserted into or extracted from the cylinder insertion portion 70provided on the side of the upper surface of the adapter 30. When theprotrusion 101 a is inserted into and fixed by the cylinder insertionportion 70, the adapter 30 is held and fixed by the adapter lifting andlowering unit 100.

The vertical cylinder 102 is a cylinder for driving the horizontalcylinder 101 in a vertical direction (in an up-down direction in thedrawing). When the vertical cylinder 102 is driven, the adapter 30 heldand fixed by the protrusion 101 a of the horizontal cylinder 101 islifted and lowered in the vertical direction. This freely moves theadapter 30 close to and away from the socket board 10 and themotherboard 20 to mate and demate the connectors 14 of the socket board10 with and from the connectors 21 of the motherboard 20.

The shock absorber 103 is a cylinder protruding toward the adapter 30held by the horizontal cylinder 101 and is provided at the tip with anelastic member such as rubber resiliently abutting against the uppersurface of the adapter 30. Since the shock absorber 103 resilientlyabuts against the adapter 30, it absorbs shock produced at the instantwhen the connectors of the socket board 10 are demated from theconnectors of the motherboard 20.

Incidentally, the adapter lifting and lowering unit 100 constructed inthe manner described above is one example of driving means for movingthe adapter 30 in accordance with this embodiment close to and away fromthe socket board 10, and it is not intended to specifically limit thepresent invention to the adapter lifting and lowering unit 100 describedin this embodiment.

[Operation of Mating and Demating Connectors]

An operation of mating and demating the connectors of the socket board10 with and from the connectors of the motherboard 20 by the use of thejig for mating and demating connectors in accordance with thisembodiment constructed in the above manner will be described withreference to operation illustrations shown in from FIGS. 5 to 8.

First, as shown in FIG. 5, in a case where the connectors of the socketboard 10 mated with the connectors of the motherboard 20 are demated,the adapter 30 is arranged above the socket board 10 (in a state shownin FIG. 5) and then is lowered and placed on the upper surface of thesocket board 10. At this time, although the adapter 30 can be placed onthe socket board 10 by hand, it can be also automatically placed by theuse of the adapter lifting and lowering unit 100. Further, in thisstate, the fixing means 60 is set in an unfixed state.

When the adapter 30 is placed on the socket board 10, as shown in FIGS.6 and 7(a), 7(b), the bulging portions 52 of the pulling means 50 arepassed through and positioned in the passing holes 16 a of the engagingholes 16 of the SB frame 12 and the pressing means 40 are made to abutagainst the SB frame 12. In this state, the base portion 31 of theadapter 30 is fixed while it is being positioned at the predeterminedposition of the SB frame 12 (refer to FIG. 6).

In this respect, when the pressing means 40 are made to abut against theSB frame 12, since the resilient pressing portions 42 are a littlelonger than the fixed pressing portions 41, the resilient pressingportions 42 are made to abut against the SB frame 12 earlier than thefixed pressing portions 41 and the fixed pressing portions 41 are madeto abut against the SB frame 12.

Then, when the sliding portion 32 of the adapter 30 is slid in thedirection of length (in the right direction in FIGS. 6(b) and 7(c)), thepulling means 50 mounted in the protruding manner on the sliding portion32 are slid along with the sliding portion 32 (refer to FIG. 7(c)),whereby the bulging portions 52 in the engaging holes 16 are moved fromthe passing holes 16 a to the sliding holes 16 b. This engages thebulging portions 52 with the sliding holes 16 b such that they can notdrop and hence engages the pulling means 50 with the SB frame 12 suchthat they can not drop. Here, although the sliding portion 32 of theadapter 30 can be slid by hand, it can be also automatically slid by theuse of the driving means such as the adapter lifting and lowering unit100.

Then, in this state, the fixing means 60 formed by the latch is set in afixed state to fix the sliding portion 32 to the base portion 31 suchthat the sliding portion 32 can not move with respect to the baseportion 31. In this manner, the sliding portion 32 is fixed to the baseportion 31 and hence the pulling means 50 are fixed in a state that theycan not move thereby to prevent the bulging portions 52 from beingdropped from or shifted in positions in the engaging holes 16 (refer toFIG. 7(c)). In this state, the adapter 30 is retracted (lifted up), thatis, in the direction in which the socket board 10 is separated from themotherboard 20.

This lifting-up of the adapter 30 is performed by the adapter liftingand lowering unit 100 shown in FIG. 1. To be more specific, first, thevertical cylinders 102 are driven to lower the horizontal cylinders 101to align them to the cylinder insertion portions 70 on the upper surfaceof the adapter 30. Then, the horizontal cylinders 101 are driven to movethe protrusions 101 a in the horizontal direction (in the left directionin the drawing) thereby to insert them into the cylinder insertionportions 70 on the upper surface of the adapter 30 and to fix themthere. In this state, the adapter 30 is held and fixed by the adapterlifting and lowering unit 100.

Then, the vertical cylinders 102 are driven to move or lift up thehorizontal cylinders 101 in the vertical direction (in the up-downdirection in the drawing). Since the vertical cylinders 102 are liftedup, the adapter 30 held and fixed by the protrusions 101 a of thehorizontal cylinders 101 is also lifted up in the vertical direction.This pulls up the socket board 10 with which the adapter 30 engages, asshown in FIG. 8, which in turn demates the connectors 14 of the socketboard 10 from the connectors 21 of the motherboard 20.

Next, in a case where the connectors of the socket board 10 which arenot mated with the connectors of the motherboard 20 are mated with them,the operation is the reverse of the above operation of demating theconnectors.

First, as shown in FIG. 8, in a state the adapter 30 is engaged with andfixed to the socket board 10, the socket board 10 is placed on themotherboard 20 while it is being positioned by the use of the adapterlifting and lowering unit 100. In this state, the vertical cylinders 102of the adapter lifting and lowering unit 100 are driven to press thesocket board 10 to the motherboard 20.

At this time, since the resilient pressing portions 42 each of which isa little longer than the fixed pressing portion 41 abut against the SBframe 12 of the socket board 10, when the vertical cylinders 102 aredriven, first, the plate portions 42 a of the resilient pressingportions 42 press the SB frame 12 with the plate portions 42 a deflectedand then the sunk fixed pressing portions 41 abut against the SB frame12 to press the SB frame 12. In this manner, the SB frame 12 is pressedand urged by both the resilient pressing portions 42 and the fixedpressed portions 41.

The connectors 14 of the socket board 10 are mated with the connectors21 of the motherboard 20 by this pressing force (refer to FIG. 6).

Thereafter, first, the fixing means 60 for fixing the sliding portion 32to the base portion 31 of the adapter 30 is unfixed to return thesliding portion 32 to a state in which the sliding portion 32 can slidewith respect to the base portion 31. This brings the pulling means 50mounted on the sliding portion 32 into a sliding state, then the bulgingportions 52 of the pulling means 50 are moved by the engaging holes 16to disengage the pulling means 50 in the order shown in FIGS. 7(c),7(b), and 7(a).

When the pulling means 50 are disengaged, the adapter 30 can be removedfrom the socket board 10 and hence the adapter 30 is removed from thesocket board 10 by hand or by the use of the adapter lifting andlowering unit 100. This is the end of mating the connectors of thesocket board 10 with the connectors of the motherboard 20.

As described above, according to the jig for mating and dematingconnectors in accordance with this embodiment, by moving forward orbackward the adapter 30 that has pressing means 40 abutting against thesubstrate (SB frame 12) of the socket board 10 mounted with theplurality of connectors from 14 a to 14 n and the pulling means 50engaging with the engaging holes 16 formed in the substrate (SB frame12) of the socket board 10 along the direction in which the connectorsare mated by the use of means such as the adapter lifting and loweringunit 100 and the like, the socket board 10 can be moved forward andbackward to the motherboard 20 to be mated. This forward or backwardmovement of the adapter 30 mates and demates the plurality of connectorsfrom 14 a to 14 n mounted on the socket board 10 with and from theconnectors from 21 a to 21 n of the motherboard 20. Thus, in thesemiconductor testing apparatus to be provided with the plurality ofconnectors, all the connectors can be mated or demated by one operation.Therefore, according to this embodiment, only by lifting or lowering theadapter 30 having a simple construction, it is possible to easily andsurely mate and demate all the connectors of the socket board 10 of thesubstrate with and from all the connectors of the motherboard 10 to bemated.

In particular, in this embodiment, the substrate and its mate of whichthe connectors are mated and demated by the use of the adapter 30 arethe unified socket board 10 and the motherboard 20 in the semiconductortesting apparatus. Thus, in the semiconductor testing apparatus capableof responding to a test on various kinds of semiconductor components bysingly changing only the socket board 10, it is possible toautomatically conduct an operation of mating and demating the socketboard 10 with and from the motherboard 20 by the use of the adapter 30and the adapter lifting and lowering unit 100.

Further, since the adapter 30 in accordance with this embodiment ismounted on the socket board 10, it is not necessary to provide themotherboard 20 with a mechanism for mating and demating the socket board10 and hence the motherboard 20 is not made complex.

Still further, since the adapter 30 can mate and demate the socket board10 by the DSA, it is possible to mate and demate many socket boards 10by the use of one adapter 30 and hence to improve performance orefficiency in mounting the socket board 10 on motherboard 20.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possibleto reduce a load on the operation of mating and demating the connectorsin the semiconductor testing apparatus and hence to make tests on thesemiconductor components with a high degree of efficiency.

Up to this point, the jig for mating and demating connectors of thepresent invention has been described by showing the preferredembodiment. However, the jig for mating and demating connectors of thepresent invention is not limited to the above embodiment but can bevariously modified within the scope of the present invention.

For example, while the jig for mating and demating connectors of thepresent invention has been described by taking the operation of matingand demating the connectors of the socket board with and from theconnectors of the motherboard as an example, the object for which thejig of the present invention is used is not limited to the socket boardand the motherboard, and the connectors to be mated and demated by thejig of the present invention are not specifically limited in number andmating structure.

That is, if one or more connectors mounted on a substrate or anapparatus are mated with and demated from the connectors mounted on thesubstrate or the apparatus of the mate corresponding thereto, the jigfor mating and demating connectors of the present invention can beapplied to any connectors mounted on any substrate or any apparatus.

In the semiconductor testing apparatus, in addition to the socket boardon which the semiconductor components to be tested are placed, forexample, a self-diagnostic board is used which is mated with and dematedfrom the motherboard via connectors for the purpose of testing thesemiconductor testing apparatus itself. The jig for mating and dematingconnectors of the present invention can be used also for mating anddemating the self-diagnostic board with and from the motherboard.Further, the jig for mating and demating connectors of the presentinvention is not affected by the construction or the number of theconnectors mounted on the boards.

Further, while the jig (adapter) used for mating and demating theconnectors is moved up and down in the vertical direction with respectto the substrate (socket board) in the foregoing embodiment, thedirection in which the jig is moved with respect to the substrate is notlimited to the vertical direction. For example, in a case where thesubstrates to be mated are vertically mounted, the direction in whichthe connectors are mated and demated is the horizontal direction andhence the jig of the present invention is moved forward and backward inthe horizontal direction.

That is, the jig of the present invention is not limited in thedirection of movement as far as it is moved back and forth along thedirection in which the connectors to be mated and demated are mated anddemated, and can be moved back and forth in the arbitrary directionaccording to the direction in which the connectors are mated and dematedsuch as the vertical direction, the horizontal direction and a slantingdirection. The direction in which the jig is moved back and forth doesnot affect the effect produced by the present invention.

Further, while the air cylinders mounted on the lifting and loweringunit are used as means for moving back and forth the adapter in theforegoing embodiment, the means for moving back and forth the adapter isnot limited to the air cylinder. Any apparatus or jig, for example, alever can be used as the means for moving back and forth the adapter asfar as it can move back and forth the adapter in a desired direction.

Still further, while the pressing means for pressing the socket boardand the pulling means for pulling the socket board are mounted in theprotruding manner on the adapter in the foregoing embodiment, thesepressing means or pulling means can be mounted on the SB frame of thesocket board that is the substrate and can mate and demate theconnectors of the substrate with and from the connectors of themotherboard by the pressing force of the pressing means and the pullingforce of the pulling means. That is, the pressing means and the pullingmeans can be mounted on the substrate or the adapter of the presentinvention. Further, the jig can omit the pressing means (or the pullingmeans) and have only the pulling means (or the pressing means).

Industrial Applicability

As described above, the jig for mating and demating connectors of thepresent invention has the adapter abutting against and engaging with thesubstrate provided with the connectors and by moving the adapter forwardand backward in the direction in which the connectors are mated anddemated, can move the substrate forward or backward in the direction inwhich the connectors are mated and demated thereby to mate and dematethe connectors of the substrate with and from the connectors of themate. This makes it possible to easily and surely mate and demate allthe connectors at the same time even if many connectors are provided.Thus, the jig for mating and demating connectors of the presentinvention is particularly suitable for mating and demating theconnectors of the socket board or the self-diagnostic board that can bemated with and demated from the motherboard of the test apparatus of thesemiconductor components.

1. A jig for mating and demating a plurality of connectors mounted on asame surface of a substrate with and from a plurality of connectorsmounted on a mate corresponding thereto, the jig comprising: an adapterthat is arranged opposite to a surface different from the surface of thesubstrate on which the connectors are arranged and is moved forward andbackward in a direction in which the connectors are mated and demated;and pulling means that is mounted in a protruding manner on the adapteror the substrate and engages with an engaging hole formed in thesubstrate or the adapter and by moving the adapter backward, pulls thesubstrate in a direction in which the substrate is separated from themate.
 2. The jig for mating and demating connectors according to claim1, further comprising pressing means that is mounted in a protrudingmanner on the adapter or the substrate and abuts against a surfacedifferent from the surface of the substrate or the adapter on which theconnectors are arranged and by moving the adapter forward, presses thesubstrate to the mate.
 3. The jig for mating and demating connectorsaccording to claim 2, wherein the pressing means resiliently abutsagainst the substrate.
 4. The jig for mating and demating connectorsaccording to claim 1, wherein the pulling means has a shaft portionmounted in a protruding manner slidably with respect to the adapter andan bulging portion formed on a tip of the shaft portion and having adiameter larger than the shaft portion, wherein the engaging hole of thesubstrate has a passing hole through which the bulging portion of thepulling means can pass and a sliding hole which is continuous with thepassing hole, allows the shaft portion of the pulling means to passthrough, and does not allow the bulging portion to pass through, whereinthe bulging portion passing through the passing hole of the engaginghole is moved to the sliding hole by sliding the shaft portion therebyto engage with the sliding hole such that the bulging portion can notdrop.
 5. The jig for mating and demating connectors according to claim4, wherein the adapter has: a base portion fixed to the substrate; and asliding portion slidable with respect to the base portion, wherein theshaft portion of the pulling means is mounted in a protruding manner onthe sliding portion of the adapter.
 6. The jig for mating and dematingconnectors according to claim 5, wherein the adapter has a fixing meansfor fixing the sliding portion such that the sliding portion can notslide with respect to the base portion.
 7. The jig for mating anddemating connectors according to claim 4, wherein the bulging portion ofthe pulling means is formed in a substantially spherical shape.
 8. Thejig for mating and demating connectors according to claim 1, wherein thesubstrate is a socket board which a semiconductor component to be testedis placed on and connected to, wherein the mate is a motherboard of asemiconductor testing apparatus that receives and applies apredetermined electric signal from and to the socket board.